Deep tech scale-ups within the EIC Scaling Club are companies with exceptional impact potential. Across ten market groups, 120 members share a mission to make the world a better place. Some, such as those in the Cardiovascular and New Biotech Platforms groups, focus on advancing human health, while others – like the New Space group – seek to improve life on Earth by exploring the universe around us.
In this article, we take a closer look at those Club member companies working to safeguard our planet – protecting natural resources and advancing climate-friendly solutions. From agriculture to batteries to mobility, these European deep tech scale-ups are developing innovations that power the green transition.
Moving towards renewable energy is one of the most significant steps humankind can take to reduce dependence on fossil fuels and protect our planet. EIC Scaling Club companies are harnessing cutting-edge technologies and developing new ways to generate clean, sustainable power.
For example, CorPower Ocean from Sweden designs and delivers wave-energy converters that use ocean power to produce renewable electricity. This company has taken up the formidable challenge of harnessing nature's raw power – even in the toughest storms – while delivering a large amount of electricity compared to the size, weight, and cost of their equipment. Discover how CorPower Ocean’s wave energy systems complement wind and solar to build a more balanced, clean energy mix – read our previous interview.
French deep tech scale-up ROSI recovers high-purity materials from end-of-life solar panels and production waste. By closing the loop in the photovoltaic industry, the company reduces resource dependency and strengthens the circular economy. Learn more about ROSI’s innovative solution in our recent article.
Another French scale-up Sweetch Energy has developed a breakthrough osmotic technology that generates electricity from the difference between freshwater and seawater. This continuous, weather-independent and emission-free process opens a new abundant source of energy – found in river deltas worldwide. As Nicolas Heuzé, CEO and one of the company’s three co-founders, highlighted:
“Estimates show that 15% of global electricity needs could be covered with osmotic power, making it a major pillar of the energy transition. [..] My commitment is clear: I'm here to make us the European champions in osmotic power."
Spanish bound4blue equips vessels with automated rigid sails that reduce fuel use by up to 40%. Its wind-assisted propulsion technology helps decarbonise maritime transport and cut operating costs. In fact, installing bound4blue’s technology on a ship pays back in less than three years, as their Head of Marketing Dana Camps told us in an earlier video interview.
Fuel is what powers the world humankind has built – but it doesn’t have to come from fossils. Hydrogen and renewable electricity are shaping a new energy era, where power is clean, efficient and circular. EIC Scaling Club companies are at the forefront of this shift, developing technologies that turn captured carbon, water and renewable power into sustainable fuels for industries and transport.
Nordic Electrofuel is a Norwegian scale-up building Europe’s first commercial-scale plant for synthetic aviation fuel. Using renewable electricity and captured CO₂, the company produces carbon-neutral fuel that can directly replace fossil-based jet fuel. The company’s CFO Aina Hegrestad told us in a video interview:
“Our mission is simple – to make aviation green by producing electric sustainable aviation fuel. When you use it, it has a clean combustion, which means that you don’t get any contrails and you don’t make cirrus clouds, which are said to be even more dangerous to global warming, compared to the CO2.”
Estonian company Elcogen develops solid oxide fuel cell and electrolyser technologies that deliver efficient, low-carbon power and hydrogen. Its innovations enable cleaner industrial processes and contribute to Europe’s energy transition. They are on a solid path to achieve this mission – their recently launched high-volume solid oxide fuel cell factory is convincing proof.
Dutch clean-tech company Battolyser Systems manufactures integrated batteries and electrolysers that produce green hydrogen and, at the same time, store renewable power. As we covered in an earlier video interview, this technology supports flexible, affordable energy systems aligned with net-zero goals.
Not all environment-saving transformations happen in fuel cell factories, industrial plants, or chemical labs. Protecting our planet often starts with food – with what we eat, and how and where it’s grown and produced. The companies in our Agri & Food Tech market group are driving green innovation to shape what future generations will put on their plates.
For instance, Belgian Protealis is on a mission to bring sustainable protein crops back to Europe. The CEO and co-founder of the company Benjamin Laga explained the current situation in a video interview:
“We're deforesting South America to grow more soybeans, then we ship them halfway across the globe, doubling the carbon footprint. And then we use them in the least sustainable way, as animal feed or as food for humans, which leaves us with nitrogen issues.”
Protealis aims to change this by developing sustainable legume crops that enable European farmers to produce high-protein, plant-based food locally. By improving soybean and pea varieties, the company helps reduce dependence on imported proteins and supports the shift towards climate-friendly diets.
Meanwhile, PARIMA pioneers cultivated meat production in France, creating sustainable and ethical meat products without animal farming. Its technology reduces land and water use, offering a responsible solution for feeding a growing population. PARIMA recently became the first-ever European company approved for cultivated meat, following regulatory approval by the Singapore Food Agency (SFA) for their cultivated chicken.
Another French company Green Spot Tech aims to change how the world looks at food waste. The company upcycles food by-products into high-value functional ingredients through solid-state fermentation. Its Ferment’Up range offers a sustainable cocoa alternative that lowers environmental impact and cost while preserving flavour and nutritional quality. Read our interview with Green Spot Tech – a scale-up putting sustainability at the core of everything it does.
Transport and mobility are among the biggest sources of CO₂ emissions, which is why some of the most innovative deep tech companies are focusing their efforts on decarbonising transport and logistics. The EIC Scaling Club’s Smart Mobility market group gathers companies developing cutting-edge EV charging technologies and AI solutions that optimise transport systems – stay tuned to our blog to learn more about those innovations. Here, we highlight just a few of our members transforming the future of mobility – for a greener world.
Irish company Manna Air Delivery operates fully electric drones for local deliveries, providing a fast and zero-emission alternative to road transport. Its service reduces traffic congestion and cuts delivery-related emissions in urban and rural communities. As the company’s CEO and founder Bobby Healy told us in an earlier interview:
“We aim to make lightning-fast deliveries in the suburbs affordable, green, and safe. Our goal is to replace road-based delivery, currently done with petrol cars, motorbikes, and scooters, with flying robots”.
Few companies embody “thinking outside the box” as well as the French innovator Tallano Technologies. This company has developed a pioneering clean-braking system that captures up to 85% of fine particles emitted during braking. Their innovative device, connected directly to the braking system, actively aspires and filters particles, addressing tens and hundreds of thousands of premature deaths due to air pollution in Europe. Read more about how Tallano makes transport healthier and more sustainable in our earlier interview.
Energy storage sits at the heart of the green transition – enabling renewable power to flow when and where it’s needed. From industrial-scale heat batteries to advanced carbon materials, companies in the EIC Scaling Club’s Batteries & Energy Storage market group are redefining how energy is stored and reused. Their technologies are driving large-scale transformations across industries, making cleaner, more resilient energy systems a reality.
For example, Norwegian company Energynest provides modular thermal energy storage systems that capture and reuse industrial heat. These “thermal batteries” enable industries to cut emissions and energy costs, supporting the decarbonisation of heavy manufacturing.
UP Catalyst from Estonia transforms carbon dioxide into advanced carbon materials such as nanotubes and graphite using renewable electricity. Its technology turns waste emissions into valuable inputs for batteries and electronics, advancing circular and low-carbon production. As the company’s VP of Technology Einar Karu told us in an earlier interview, the company has high ambitions: to achieve global leadership as the most cost-effective and environmentally responsible producer of graphite and carbon nanotubes, leveraging CO₂ emissions as its core feedstock.
The European Union has set ambitious climate goals – cutting greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% by 2030 and reaching climate neutrality by 2050. These targets form the backbone of Europe’s Green Deal and guide policies across energy, industry and innovation.
EIC Scaling Club innovators are proving how scalable clean technologies can turn Europe’s climate goals into reality.
The EIC Scaling Club is a curated community where 120+ European deep tech scale-ups with the potential to build world-class businesses and solve major global challenges come together with investors, corporate innovators and other industry stakeholders to spur growth.
The top 120+ European deep tech companies will be carefully selected from a pool of high-growth scale-ups that have benefitted from EIC financial schemes, other European and national innovation programmes, and beyond.
The EIC Scaling Club is an EIC-funded initiative run in partnership by Tech Tour, Bpifrance (EuroQuity), Hello Tomorrow, Tech.eu (Webrazzi), EurA and IESE Business School.
Subscribe to our newsletter here to stay up-to-date!